The searchlight of the US ship burst into dazzling bright light in the dark. In the shooting command room on the upper part of the Luger bridge, the experienced shooting commander Major Sebastian quickly took out his sunglasses from his shirt pocket and put them on. Then he used the mechanical rangefinder in front of him to calculate the target position, and then issued a shooting command: "Horizontal shooting angle 015 degrees 30 points, shooting elevation angle 5 degrees 30 points, and the front main gun fired a round in a salvo!"

Previously, under the guidance of radar detection data, the artillery on the ship had preset shooting elements, and the gunners only needed to fine-tune the firing angle. At this time, US artillery fire came like a storm, and two shells hit the Luge in the first round of shooting. Fortunately, one of the shots that hit the bridge was bounced off by protective armor, and the one that hit the front deck and exploded did not damage the front main turret and main gun. The front main gun of the Luge completed the adjustment as scheduled. Major Sebastian completed the calibration and confirmation at the fastest speed, and then directly fired the four front main guns ready to go through the fire control system.

At 2,200 meters away from the Honolulu, the first round of artillery fire fired by the Irish heavy patrol was quite accurate. Two shells landed on the starboard sea of ​​the US ship, and the bounce point was only twenty or thirty meters away from the ship. Two more rounds crossed the deck, rubbed the bridge and chimney to the other side of the warship.

Seeing this, Major Sebatisian made a quick decision and directly fired a second round of artillery without making any adjustments. This round of artillery fire actually hit a 50% hit rate! In a blink of an eye, explosive flames burst out from the bridge of the US ship and the walls of the ship, and the strike of the bridge was quite deadly. Four officers and four sergeants in the combat bridge were killed on the spot. Although the light cruiser had a reserve command room on the rear bridge, no one expected such a bad situation at the beginning of the battle, so the "Honolulu" was temporarily in a state of no command.

The main gun fire alone could not exert all the combat power of the battleship. The "Ruge" quickly began to turn left, and when the main gun fired the third round of artillery fire, the main gun began to join the battle. Immediately afterwards, Captain Farrell ordered a torpedo attack, and six 533 mm torpedoes rushed out of the rear of the starboard side. After a while, six parallel torpedo trails appeared on the sea. Although crew members on the "Honolulu" discovered the torpedo attack and passed through the ship's pass.

The news line alerted the reserve command room, but it was too late. The US ship rushed to avoid it and eventually got a torpedo. The powerful T-4 torpedo exploded half of the bow of the US light cruiser into the sky. As the sea water poured into the cabin, the speed of the warship suddenly slowed down and the deck tilted rapidly. At this time, the artillery on the ship was still firing hard, but it had lost its original aura. The more chaotic artillery fire could not pose a substantial threat to the Irish heavy cruiser.

During the film, the "Ruge" adjusted to a state where the hull was parallel to the "Honolulu". At this moment, the two ships were only more than 900 meters apart. The former was like a knight who won the duel, staring at the loser with a cold and arrogant look. Although he felt a little pity in his heart, the sword in his hand still fell ruthlessly... After two rounds of volleys, the US ship accelerated to sink in a violent explosion, and the survivors on the ship jumped into the water one after another. Since the "Honolulu" opened fire first, the close-killing battle between the two warships lasted less than five minutes. The one-on-one battle appeared again

There was a one-sided situation, but the Americans did not expect that their cruisers would be hit by their opponents with the advantage of output efficiency and shooting positions. Because of this, on another American cruiser, the Nashville, the officers were still looking forward to attacking their opponents with friendly ships. The explosion light flashing on the sea was considered to be the "Honolulu" shooting at the opponents with a storm. When they realized that the situation was not good, the Irish heavy cruiser had already adjusted his posture and faced the second opponent with full confidence.

At 2,000 meters away from the enemy, the Irish people used their own way to help them. They turned on all the searchlights on the ship first. While pointing out the target position for their gunners, they also interfered with the opponent's sighting with strong light. Relying on the high-precision stereoscopic rangefinder, the improved unified command system for the entire ship, and the well-trained crew members, the "Ruger" completed the sighting correction at the fastest speed, and then directly launched the first round of all main guns. All the shells were scattered around the US ship "Nashville". The splashes of water emitting a snow-white and crystal luster under the illumination of the searchlight.

The Brooklyn class equipped with five triple main turrets could only fire at the front target with six main guns. When it was discovered that the enemy ship was working hard to deal with it, the US ship quickly turned, and the three main turrets on the front deck also turned.

Before the "Nashville" counterattack, the Irish heavy patrol made a second round of volleys very quickly, but this time there was no previous burst luck. The shells were still scattered around the US ship, and the nearest bounce point to the side of the ship was five meters away.

According to common sense, the target has changed its course significantly. The attacker needs to re-view and estimate the advance amount to obtain new artillery parameters, which takes a lot of time. Therefore, in close combat, experienced shooting commanders often choose to "follow the feeling", that is, use intuitive judgment rather than observation of the sight data to adjust the firing elements of the naval gun. The artillery pause after the second round of volleys of the "Ruger" lasted only less than half a minute. At this time, the US ship had turned sideways, and the hull was close to parallel to the "Ruger". The distance between the two was about 1,600 meters. The guns of each other pointed majestic at each other, but the effect of the artillery shell must be determined until the shell fell.

The sound of cannons was like war drums, rumbling on the sea. When the eight 203mm guns of the "Ruger" opened fire, the "Nashville" opposite also showed flashing flames. The smoke of gunpowder spread, and the shells fired by both sides roared across the sea, causing waves.

All 15 shells fired by the US ship were close to each other, and two landing points were close to the port side of the "Ruger". All the shells of the Irish heavy cruiser were far away, and some of the bullet points were dozens of meters away from the "Nashville". At first glance, the shooting accuracy of the two ships was very different. In fact, two shells of the "Ruger" hit the deck of the US ship. They passed through the chimney and the rear bridge observation deck respectively, and eventually fell into the sea and exploded.

Ideally, the Brooklyn-class volley interval is 7.5 seconds, while the "Ruger" is 12 seconds. The main gun armor-piercing shell of the Irish heavy cruiser is very threatening. The Brooklyn-class 152mm caliber armor-piercing shell can also penetrate most parts of the "Ruger" at close range. The reason why the commander of the "Honolulu" faced the enemy ship head-on before the friendly ship approached was that the attack efficiency must be a key reliance. The same reason applies to the commander of the "Nashville", but this US ship continued to turn after opening fire. The crew had discovered that the "Honolulu" was sinking. Not only did they lose the momentum of attack, but they also faced an opponent whose combat power exceeded the expected one. At this time, it was a rational move to avoid the enemy's edge.

Regardless of whether the enemy ships were tactical avoidance or strategic retreat, the situation on the battlefield had changed. Colonel Farrell led the "Ruger" to pursue the full speed without hesitation. Although the shooting accuracy of the warship was poor when sailing at high speed, due to the close distance, both sides kept firing at their opponents during the pursuit. As a result, in this pursuit battle that lasted for more than half an hour, the Irish heavy patrol consumed 84 main artillery shells and hit one round. The US light patrol destroyed 186 rounds and hit three rounds, with almost the same efficiency. The key is that no one caused fatal injuries to the opponent.

Injuring the enemy ship and driving it out of the area where the escort fleet is located, von Heinke and Farrell both felt that they should take the initiative to end the battle and return to the fleet as soon as possible to prevent an accident. However, the new situation detected by the carrier-based radar surprised them: another enemy fleet of unknown size was found in the northwest direction!

Before, a US ship was sunk cleanly and neatly. The military morale of the entire ship "Ruge" was greatly improved. The crew members were not afraid of fighting, but the issues that commanders need to consider were not just morale. This night was first an enemy submarine, and then an enemy light patrol fleet. Now a second surface fleet appeared, with the short distance between front and back, which shows that this is not an accident. Since the enemy has set his sights on this escort fleet, the previous attacks were probably just to find out the reality of the escort force, and the real means are still behind. On the other hand, the light patrol "Herta" was seriously injured and could not provide effective escort support for the fleet. The remaining destroyers and minesweepers were still good for anti-submarine. If they encountered large enemy warships, they would not play any role at all.

Since such concerns, Major General Feng Heinke hurriedly sent a telegram for help, and reported it in the telegram that if he was unable to stop the enemy's attack, he would disband the ships and let their ships escape.

The situation was urgent, and the Allied Fleet Command and the German Navy General Staff quickly sent back and forth calls, clarifying that the escort fleet should continue to retreat towards Europe. Neither of these telegrams mentioned reinforcements, but surprisingly unanimously made him unable to disband the fleet unless it was in the situation. There seemed to be some hint between the lines, but Major General Von Heinke was not aware of the whereabouts of his support fleet, and only hoped that he would not become a victim of seducing the enemy.

After discovering the enemy fleet, the "Ruger" turned eastward and lowered its speed accordingly in order to continue to monitor the enemy's tracks. The newly discovered enemy fleet speed was about 22 knots. If it was maintained at this speed, it would catch up with the escort fleet of the Allied Powers code-named "Frederick Caesar" just by dawn, which made Feng Heinke very anxious. However, not long after, the situation suddenly changed, the radar discovered a fleet on the northeastern sea. If this was an enemy fleet, under the attack on both sides, the escort fleet might inevitably be devastated, but if it was an own fleet, the situation would be completely different.
Chapter completed!